About Us
Lindsay from Portland, Maine
"I first came to Lisa seeking tools for weight loss. Lisa has given me plenty of useful advice about nourishing my body enough to fuel my intense workout schedule. However, she has also introduced me to intuitive eating, health at every size, and more. This has changed my life completely. Lisa has encouraged me to begin a journey learning how to eat mindfully, trust my body, and reject diet culture and the way it has taken over my life since I was a young teenager. I have a long way to go still, but Lisa has guided me as I endeavor to love myself today, in the body I have now, and to stop wasting my life wrecking my metabolism and trying to adhere to an unattainable ideal. Until I met Lisa, I did not understand the concepts of joyful eating and healing your relationship with food. I am so grateful to Lisa, and I look forward to continuing to learn from her insights as I progress into this life-changing work."
Allison from Portland, Maine
"At the time that I turned to Lisa for guidance I had already lost roughly 80lbs with basic changes in my eating habits and adding in some exercise but I was upset and perplexed as to why I had plateaued and wasn’t losing any additional weight. I enjoyed exercise, loved cooking with and eating hale and hearty foods but still couldn’t seem to figure out how to help myself any further. When I emailed Lisa inquiring about her services she addressed my concerns and begun steering me in the right direction at once. When I met with her for the first time I realized just how poor my relationship with food was. She helped me recognize just how often I was using food as a means of comfort and not even realizing it. I always thought writing my food down was cumbersome and unnecessary – now I know it was one of the smallest yet most successful things I could have done for myself. Lisa along with her comforting and welcoming demeanor truly made me feel like I was finally digging myself out of the hole I created. She helped me get to the core of the problem, she held me accountable, provided great alternatives for food/exercise/stress relievers/etc. She was flexible every step of the way, working with me through many different challenging events and making sure I always remember that I’m stronger than I think I am and always reminding me to forgive myself. I will sing praise for Lisa so long as anyone will listen."
Elizabeth from Kennebunk, Maine
“I know I came to you with the focus on weight loss, but I do feel I have come away with something much greater; sanity with food! I really feel like I have eliminated a lot of the negative thinking and eating habits that I’ve had for years and have me kind of crazy with the whole thing. This is so much better and honestly, really easy. (Not perfect… but so much “gentler” as you say.) You are the first person who has ever told me to stop thinking about “weight.” I am actually enjoying eating rather than fighting with myself over food.”
About Us
Beth from Cumberland, Maine
Throughout my life I have had a negative relationship with food, I found myself depriving myself, then overindulging and then repeating the cycle over and over again. Breaking this relationship began with me finding the courage to reach out to Lisa Prince and get guidance and more importantly education and support. Mindful eating has completely transformed my life. More importantly joyful eating has been the golden ticket. Finding YOUR relationship with food is the key to your success. Through Lisa's guidance and support I now have a new relationship with food that has completely transformed my life. 15 lbs down, and still going strong. Thank you Lisa, I am a better happier and healthier person because of you.
Lauren from Scarborough, Maine
"I dropped 65 lbs. I don't think I could have done it without her."
Peter from Cape Elizabeth, Maine
"After six months, I've lost 38 lbs. My diabetes is under control, my blood pressure is pretty good, and my cholesterol is low."
Brandi from Buxton, Maine
It’s been exactly one year since I started exercising regularly (despite some bumps in the road) and just over a year since I started seeing you. It’s funny because I started my job on the same day we met for the first time and aside from having my daughter and getting married, it was probably the single most life changing day of my life. While I still have a long way to go to get the scale where I want it to be (and stay - until we’re ready for baby number 2 anyway,) looking at these photos shows me just how far I’ve come and reminds me how much my life has changed for the better. In addition to eating a more balanced diet and exercising 5 times a week, I’m able to run with my daughter, to go on hikes, to swim and kayak all without getting out of breath! I’m no longer embarrassed to see people I haven’t seen in a while, in fact I’m excited for my coworkers to see the progress I’ve made when I return to the office in September.
I so appreciate your approach to health and wellness and I know I most definitely would not be here without your knowledge, persistence and encouragement.
Thank you!!!
Brandi
Joe from Portland, Maine
I am a 28-year-old white male with a bicuspid aortic valve (BAV). I am treated by Dr. John Lualdi and Sam Umbriaco. Throughout my life I have struggled with my weight and have been obese since my childhood. Until recently, I never realized just how imbalanced and unhealthy my relationship with food was, despite weighing in at more than 420 lbs. at my heaviest.
In January 2018, I contacted Lisa Prince at the suggestion of my endocrinologist Dr. Stephen Babirak, who manages my hyperlipidemia and hypertension. (Sam also recommended Lisa.) My goal was to lose weight. To be honest, I didn't have very high expectations given my track record of having lost and re-gained more than 100 lbs. on multiple occasions. From obsessively counting calories, to crash dieting, to unsustainable exercise regimens, I had tried and failed to maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle for decades.
Working with Lisa has been transformative. Her emphasis on long-term goals and short-term objectives has helped me to understand that I needed to change my relationship with and understanding of food--and my lifestyle--to live a healthy life (especially given my BAV, sedentary career, and genetic predisposition to diabetes and heart disease). I'm sure Lisa can better detail her approaches and methodology for you herself, so I'll focus on what's worked for me, personally, a "normal" guy who just wants to get healthy and isn't that well versed in nutritional science and psychology.
Lisa's approach has helped me focus on my successes, and helps me set attainable and realistic goals. For example, each week we meet to review the meals I've consumed, activity levels, and to discuss upcoming goals. She embraces technology, and I keep a visual food journal that gives me a practical and accurate reminder of what I've eaten. This helps me be mindful with meal selection, and frees me from scrutinizing over every last calorie. Healthy choices and reasonable portions are the emphasis. In addition to meal reviews, she helps me set realistic "everyday" exercise goals. For example, I've recently incorporated eight flights of stairs per day into my activities.
Perhaps the most important approach Lisa has brought to my health has been reasonable sustainable goals. While she strongly urged me to quit soda cold-turkey (and I did!), she stresses attainable goals that don't set me up for failure. I love pizza. I enjoy beer. Rather than cut these items out of my life entirely, Lisa has helped to understand "joyful eating" versus eating for nutrition. She's helped me stop eating a large pepperoni pizza and drinking 3-4 beers by myself, and start making a couple of slices of thin-crust veggie pizza and a light beer a meal to savor every now and again.
That's not to say I haven't dramatically changed my diet--I think I have. I went from eating two massive meals a day full of saturated fats, sugars, and insane amounts of sodium--to eating three meals daily, and making balanced choices. I've lost approximately 40 pounds from my starting weight of 390+ lbs. The most important change, though, hasn't been a nutritional change, curiously enough it's my perspective. Because Lisa helps set me up for incremental success, I feel empowered and in control. Because I'm looking decades down the road instead of fixating on the scale, I've become healthier than I ever have been in my adult life.